


Harebell

by Nagareboshi22



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Don’t copy to another site, M/M, Meet-Cute, Shance Flower Exchange 2019, bluebells, magic is involved, shance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2020-03-09 10:42:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18915334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nagareboshi22/pseuds/Nagareboshi22
Summary: The Bluebell flower symbolizes humility, constancy, gratitude, and everlasting love in Scotland. It was believed that witches would transform themselves into hares and hide among the Bluebells, where their other name, harebell, originated from.





	1. The Azured Harebell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BlueWolves](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueWolves/gifts).



> My gift for Amatie1 for the Shance Flower Exchange! A two-shot fic.

Bluebells in full bloom stretched out before Shiro, even past the tree line on the opposite side of the clearing. Like a lake in the middle of summer, with the clear blue sky reflected on the water’s surface, and the gentle breeze casting soft ripples. Shiro has never seen such a beautiful sight. Only in pictures from nature magazines, but never in person. And just when he thought the scenery couldn’t get anymore lovelier, he sees a single, wild hare frolicking in the flowers.

 _‘Picture! No, I should take video of this!’_ Shiro thought to himself as he fumbles for his phone. It was just too sweet and adorable to pass up such a golden opportunity!

 _“You be careful out there, young man,”_ the voice of the elderly store clerk echoed in Shiro’s mind as he lifted his phone to capture the hare jumping among the flowers.

Shiro pressed the record button, gleefully smiling to himself for being able to capture such a magical moment in nature. The hare hopped around and chased windblown petals for a while longer, however, after one spectacular jump, it didn’t come back up again. Shiro would look from his screen over to the direction the hare had just been. Did it notice him and run off? The thought disappointed Shiro, and with a heavy sigh, he moved to turn off the video recording off.

_“There’s a reason why you got that cabin for a decent price.”_

With his finger hovering over the record button, Shiro saw the bluebells on his screen rustle, halting his action in hopes that it was the hare getting to jump about again. However, instead of a hare, Shiro watched from his screen as a man rose from out of the flowers. A man with beautiful brown skin that seemed to glow golden under the sunlight, and brown hair a few shades dark than his skin, meticulously cropped and put his long, elegant neck on display.

_“Folks around here don’t dare venture into the woods as far as you live in it.”_

Shiro slowly lifted his head up, eyes dragging from the screen to the clearing in front of him, as if afraid that his phone was playing tricks on him. But the man was really there, sitting among the bluebells. He didn’t seem to notice Shiro at all. Not yet at least. He was too preoccupied it seemed, with his head turned upwards towards the sky, his bare body leaning back on his hands to get a better view at the clouds overhead. He looked so peaceful, despite that Shiro hasn’t seen his face yet.

Suddenly, there was a beep from his phone, signaling to him that the recording was stopped due to full memory. It was like a gunshot considering how quiet it was, and it was enough to get the mysterious man’s attention. Shiro felt his heart pound against his ribcage, as the man’s head whipped around towards him and eyes as blue as the flowers beneath him pinned him in place.

_“Legend says there’s a witch living in those woods.”_

Shiro was never one to believe in old legends or superstitions, not once in all of his twenty-five years. Old legends can be hard to believe, but they originated from somewhere of a logical source, meaning there was at least a small ounce of truth in them somehow. Like perhaps a haggard woman used to live in the woods centuries ago or perhaps a cult used these woods for some weird ritual centuries ago. Who was he to judge medieval times?

However, standing at the edge of the clearing he stumbled upon during his hike, frozen in place by eyes that held the stars in them, as if the moon personified stood before him under the sun, Shiro wasn’t sure what to believe in anymore.

Perhaps he should’ve considered that old man’s words more carefully.

“Hey there, handsome.”

* * *

Shiro had run.

Shiro held the fastest record for obstacle courses all across the military back when he had two arms, but he was absolutely certain he would’ve made an all-new record with how fast he high tailed from the clearing the moment the mysterious man spoke to him. He hadn’t slept a wink last night, less than the usual two winks he slept. He spent the entire night watching the video he had captured over and over, debating if it really happened despite having the physical, inarguable proof right in the palm of his hand. He also spent a good hour wondering if what he had seen had been a literal ghost or was that man an actual witch. The more he had thought about it, the crazier Shiro had felt. Which led to him waiting in line, looking like he was on death’s doorstep early in the morning in the small town’s only grocery store.

Shiro sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes as he stepped up to the cash register for his turn to be rung up for his groceries.

“Long night?”

“You can’t even imagine,” Shiro said, voice worn and weary. Shiro froze for a second, before looking up to see it was the very older gentleman that had warned him to be careful in the woods. Shiro stared for quite a bit, an internal battle waging inside him between his curiosity and to desire to keep to himself. In the end, his curiosity won overwhelmingly. “Sir, may I ask you a question?”

“You already have, young man.”

That managed to get a smile out of Shiro.

“The other day you told me that a witch used to live in the woods. Could you tell me more about it? It really…intrigued me,” Shiro said as he lowered his eyes to watch the old man ring up his items one by one. He discretely looked to his side, and much to his relief, there wasn’t a line behind him.

“There isn’t much to tell. It’s local folklore that has been passed down from generation to generation, and has probably been watered down by time,” the old man—Shiro glanced at his name tag—Kaltenecker said. “But if you’re so curious, I’ll tell you.”


	2. Memories in his Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro seeks out the man with sunkissed skin and the stars in his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So life is getting in my way in finishing this story faster as I had intended. So instead of the two-shot I had planned, this will be a multi-chapter story so the gaps in between chapters will be smaller. Thank-you for your patience ;;w;;

“He’s not here…” Shiro muttered to himself, his dark eyes scanning the field of bluebells swaying in the wind. Perhaps if he walked around to the other side of the clearing, he could see him? However, when Shiro spent the next few minutes walking along the perimeter of the mass of bluebells, eyes flickering to-and-fro, he still didn’t see a single glance of familiar brown.  

 

Shiro wasn’t sure what he had expected. For all it was worth, he could have dreamt the entire thing. Yet after hearing Old Kaltenecker’s story, Shiro was compelled to come back to this beautiful clearing or die trying. Why? He wasn’t quite sure himself. He thought that seeing the mysterious man again, with the sun in his skin and the moon in his eyes, that maybe he would find the answer to that question.

 

With a heavy sigh, Shiro figured it was about time to throw in the towel. With one last longing look towards the gentle sea of bluebells, Shiro turned around to leave.

“Oh…! You came back.”

 

Shiro’s head whipped around so fast he was surprised he hadn’t snapped his neck in two, however, he didn’t see anyone. Just bluebells, nothing but bluebells! Shiro wondered if he was imagining things or worse, he was going crazy. Do bluebells cause hallucination? Like, their pollen?

A soft snort followed by quiet laughter that reminded him of windchimes caught Shiro’s attention.

“Over here, big guy.”

Shiro felt a warm hand cup his cheek in order to turn his head towards the source of the voice; the mysterious man. However, the moment he made eye contact with the other, he got lost in those eyes so blue and so deep, surely, they were the oceans that the moon controlled at night. Perhaps if he wasn’t so stupefied, Shiro would’ve been embarrassed at such a thought.

 

“You’re an odd one. Most people never come back after they see me,” the young mysterious man said, amusement in his eyes as he withdrew his hand.

“You’re—”

“Hm?”

“You’re—”

“I’m what? Charming? Devilishly handsome? A joy to be around?”

“— _Naked_ …!” Shiro finally managed to blurt out. The young man comically looked down at himself, as if just noticing that he was indeed naked.

“Ah. Yes. There is that too. I tend to forget seeing as—what are you doing?”

Shiro had taken off his coat while the man took note of his predicament and paused when he was asked what he was doing. Shiro couldn’t help but look off to the side, then back at the bewildered man. He thought it was pretty obvious what he was doing.

“I’m…giving you my coat,” Shiro explained slowly before he swung his coat over the man and placed it on his shoulders. Luckily, he was a whole lot taller and bigger than the man, so his coat managed to provide the perfect amount of cover up.

 

Shiro’s eyes glanced downwards at the man’s bare, long legs. The perfect amount of cover-up.

“Oh. I thought you were stripping so you could ravish me.”

Shiro choked on his own spit.

“I would _never!_ I-I—” Shiro stammered, trying to pick up whatever dignity he still had, which wasn’t very much with the way things were going. He heard the man laugh that melodious laugh again, and like a dumbstruck idiot, Shiro stared at the other. He had such a charming smile; the way his eyes squinted was very cute.

Shiro flushed and awkwardly looked away. Something was wrong with him, thinking a possible ghost boy was cute. But wait, if he was a ghost, wouldn’t his jacket had gone right through him? Bewildered, Shiro looked back at the man, brows furrowed. He opened his mouth, but whatever words he was going to say died in his throat as a hand thrust itself in his line of vision.

“My name is Lance,” the mysterious man—Lance—said. Shiro’s dark eyes flickered back and forth from Lance’s hand to his cheerful smile.

“Lance…?” Shiro trailed off as he slowly reached for the hand, and grasped it tentatively. He expected his fingers to go right through but they didn’t, and Lance had surprisingly warm hands.

“Just Lance. I can’t say I remember my surname,” Lance said with a shrug too casual in Shiro’s taste, considering the subject.

Shiro’s hand tightened just the slightest around Lance’s.

“Is that because you’re originally not from this time?” Shiro said carefully, his dark gray eyes alert. He took in the way Lance’s delicate eyebrows arched the tiniest bit before they relaxed, and a smile tugged at Lance’s lips.

“You are quite perceptive. I like that in a man.”

 

* * *

 

 

“So, did you come back all this way to confirm whether I was an apparition from the past?”

 

Shiro flushed which made Lance laugh because he hit the nail on the head. They sat amongst the bluebells upon Lance’s insistence. He seemingly didn’t want Shiro to leave even after Shiro accused him of being from another time. Thinking about it now, Shiro realized that was probably a very rude thing to accuse someone of, but it was better than the alternative, which was Lance was a regular guy that liked to sit naked in a field of bluebells. Shiro glanced over at Lance. Why _was_ he naked in the middle of a bluebell field?

 

“It’s alright. I can understand the curiosity. Who wouldn’t be curious when a beautiful man such as myself appears from out of the flowers?” Lance said, puffing out his chest boastfully. Shiro smiled quietly to himself. He could already tell Lance was a strange one, but he found his behavior rather charming even if it did seem a little narcissistic.

 

“But in all seriousness, I am very much real. Would you like to know why?”

 

Shiro blinked and focused back on Lance, who was looking at him with expectant eyes. There was a moment of silence as Shiro considered Lance’s words.

 

“It’s okay. I already know now,” Shiro said with a pleasant smile. Lance’s eyebrows flew up towards his hairline, eyes wide.

 

“Oh...I see, you know then…” Lance said with a vulnerability that was like a slap to the face for Shiro. He’d only exchanged a few words with Lance, yet Shiro could tell that Lance and quiet in the same sentence meant something was wrong. Had he hurt his feelings? Had he wanted to tell Shiro himself? Or was it because he knew that had upset him? Maybe Lance was going to lie to him or give him the short version of the truth?

 

_‘I mean, if I think about it, I wouldn’t want a stranger to say he already knew about my secret before I could tell him myself,’_ Shiro thought to himself as he watched Lance pulled his coat tighter around himself. Shiro opened his mouth—

 

“Well then, that saves me the trouble of explaining things!” Lance said with a cheerful laugh. But his laughter sounded like a dulled bell, nothing like the crisp, bright tone it had earlier. Shiro found himself wanting to polish the bell so it could ring clearly again.

 

“No, I should apologize. It’s obviously a sensitive topic, and I took away the control of the situation from you. I’m sorry, Lance,” Shiro quickly interjected before the damage settled. His apology startled Lance, even more so when Shiro reached out to gently place a hand on his shoulder. “If you want to tell me, please, do so. I’m all ears.”

 

Lance searched his face, his eyes flickering back and forth as if to see if he was being genuine. Shiro flushed under the scrutiny but held a firm gaze.

 

“...No, it’s fine. I don’t mind if you already knew about my history. I’m probably a folklore nowadays, am I not? It would explain why I hardly ever see anyone in the forest,” Lance said as he thoughtfully looked up at the sky. After a moment, he looked back at Shiro and smiled, and although it was a small smile, it somehow reached his lovely blue eyes. “Thank-you. Your apology was very sweet.”

 

Shiro flushed for what felt like the hundredth time in the past half hour.

 

“Anyways, enough of that chatter. What is it like nowadays? You had some sort of mechanism in your hand yesterday, what is it? Is it magic? Show me!” Lance said and was practically bouncing in excitement as he reached for Shiro’s pockets. Shiro was starting to think that personal space wasn’t in Lance’s vocabulary, but he couldn’t say he hated it.

 

“That “mechanism” is called a phone,” Shiro said with a chuckle as he brought out said mechanism. “There are newer phones than mine, but I can make calls, text, and use the internet, so it’s great in my book. A friend of mine always insists on getting the latest technology only so she can take it apart and put it back together.”

 

“So you can call someone? As in, summon them through the _phone_ ? And you can read textbooks on it? That is very useful! But what is this _internet_?” Lance asked. He was bubbling with curiosity and Shiro watched in amusement as Lance poked and tapped on his phone’s screen. It was cute...but at the same time daunting, because this really put into perspective how old Lance was. It made everything so very real. Or maybe not, maybe this was all some delusional dream and he’ll wake up in a few minutes.

 

Yet despite partially believing this might just be some strange dream, Shiro had taken the time to explain his phone to Lance. He was pretty impressed by the concept of texting; how Shiro could send a “letter” instantly and receive a letter back in minutes instead of waiting days or weeks. Lance really liked the internet too, although he didn’t understand the internet lingo at all. Shiro did get a kick out of listening to Lance read out loud “oh worm?” when he had shown him the meme.

 

By far, however, Lance loved taking pictures, not just selfies, although he did take plenty of those with the brightest smile when he looked at them. He also did take a lot of pictures of the scenery before them.

 

“Amazing. I have a memory in the palm of my hands,” Lance said as he looked down at the picture he had just taken of the clouds with sparkling eyes as blue as the sky the clouds floated in. No, they were probably bluer than the sky. “Let us take a picture together!”

 

Shiro chuckled when Lance excitedly motioned him to come closer to him. Shiro humored him and leaned over to be in the shot. He watched as Lance navigated the camera screen to set it in selfie mode, and Shiro couldn’t help it when he smiled. Lance may be centuries old, but he was so incredibly smart and adaptable. He picked things up so quickly, he just needed to be shown once or twice.

 

“Oh, this one came out so nicely,” Lance said. Shiro blinked several times before looking at his phone, and sure enough, there was a picture of the two of them; they were both smiling, however, Lance was looking at the camera, however, Shiro was looking at Lance. “One more time, you weren’t looking at the camera.”

 

In the next selfie, Shiro was looking at the camera, but he was as red as a cherry tomato. Lanced somehow had set the photo as his home screen wallpaper.


End file.
